With “Confession” South Korean director Yoon Jong-seok presents his second thriller after “Marine Boy” (2009). It is a remake of “Contratiempo” Spain's mystery thriller master Oriol Paulo. After an Italian and an Indian version of the story, Yoon now presents his own interpretation. This suspenseful and smartly constructed film was a worthy closing for the Udine Far East Film Festival.
“Confession” screened at Udine Far East Film Festival
Yoo Min-ho (So Ji-sub) wakes up in a hotel room. His mistress lies on the floor, dead. Since the room was closed from the inside and there is no trace of an intruder, the police is sure that Yoo is the murderer. But he claims his innocence. Thanks to his wealthy family in law, he can put some strings and gets out of prison until it comes to trial. Together with a famous attorney, Yang Shin-ae, Yoo wants to proof he's not the culprit.
The attorney Yang Shin-ae (Kim Yun-jiin) joins Yoo to his cabin into the woods to hear about his story. In order to find the best strategy to defend him, she urges him to tell her everything that might be related to the case. Yoo thinks someone wants to take revenge on him and his dead mistress because both of them were involved in a car accident. Instead of calling the police, they covered it up and hid the body.
Bit by bit, we discover in flashbacks what happened a few months before. Yoo doesn't hide his implication in the hit and run, but describes his girlfriend as the driving force behind the coverup. In front of Yang, he shows remorse. And for a moment he seems quite convincing. Yang though, is not as easily satisfied and digs further, revealing more and more details with which the whole story begins to shift.
“Confession” is a crime movie with a film noir aesthetic. Without its complex narrative structure it would have been a rather classical whodunit story. What is very exciting is how the male main role is gradually deconstructed. We see an upper class guy who has everything he wishes for: money, looks, both a devoted wife and girlfriend. The first impulse is to think he deserves to come down from his high horse. Money can't buy it all, after all.
Skillfully, director Yoon manages to lead the viewer on a emotional roller coaster. We have doubts in what to believe. When we think to have finally understood how things stand, a new twist happens. “Confession” is one of those films you normally watch only once. Knowing about the resolution of the story, cuts down most of its suspense. But it is worth looking a bit closer to the visual appearance and the camera work. The movie is full of details in the décor, for example.
Its impact is surely also very much dependent on the performances of the cast. There is So Ji-sub as Yoo who prooves to be really versatile. He needs to play several personalities all in a very short space of time. Intriguing is also the appearance of his counterpart, Kim Yun-jiin as Yoo's attorney. This tough woman is prepared to do everything; she does not fall for his charms. At the beginning, she seems the perfect cold attorney type, but then fine lines of a more sensitive character show.
The film is set in the present, if we consider the smartphones the protagonists use. But besides that, it also has a kind of timeless side. This is probably due to the palette of mainly saturated colors that evoke a warm atmosphere. “Confession” recalls a whole series of crime movies and thrillers often set at night time. Here also we need artificial lightening to literally make light on the truth. Responsible for the photography that has a melancholic touch, is Kim Seong-jin. The big strength of “Confession” is, apart from the quick editing, the strict preservation of the unity of space and time. In this way, the film resembles a chamber play. Despite its big size, the protagonist's villa gets claustrophobic.
Thanks to its great actors not only in the two main roles, “Confession” is more than a simple crime movie. It also fascinates with its intelligent structure. Only the ending leaves one a little bit unsatisfied.
